Microsoft has just announced the availability of the Microsoft Translator Hub for commercial use, including access to the Microsoft Translator API. Microsoft Translator Hub is built on Windows Azure, and provides tools for businesses to "build, improve, and deploy customized automatic language translation systems."

Commercial availability of the Microsoft Translator service, which was announced at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference on July 11th, 2012, allows businesses and communities to provide specialized language translation quality to websites and other applications. Users can create language translations for specific industries such as transportation, agriculture, healthcare and technology.

The Microsoft Translator Service offers tools for webmasters and non-technical people including a translation widget for webmasters, the Bing Translator and a Microsoft Translator Installer for Office. For web developers and other technical users, available tools include an AJAX Interface, SOAP Interface, HTTP Interface and the Microsoft Translator API.

The Microsoft Translator API is available at the Windows Azure Marketplace and features a variety of calling methods including an HTTP REST Service, an AJAX-callable service and a SOAP Web Service. Using the API, developers can integrate an advanced language translation system into their websites and applications.

At the time of this writing, the Microsoft Translator API is FREE to use up to 2,000,000 characters per month. High volume usage is charged based on the number of characters per month.

About the author:Janet Wagner
is a data journalist and full stack developer based in Toledo, Ohio. Her focus revolves around APIs, data visualization, machine learning, and data-driven journalism. Follow her on Twitter: @webcodepro, Google+, or send her an email.